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Day #190: Prey (2009)

[From IMDb:] Three Australian couples stumble across an ancient curse in the Outback, and their dream holiday turns into a nightmare that may kill them all.

My take:

Note: This movie was released as Prey in Australia, was renamed Dreamtime’s Over (*cringe*) for international release, and has The Outback on the DVD above, for who knows what reason.

Now, if you’ve been following this blog for any amount of time, you’ll know that I’ve had nothing but praise for the Australian film industry. Although it’s absolutely underrated, it’s produced some really fantastic movies.

Never let it be said that I’m unable to see beyond my own limited sense of nationalism, though. A crappy movie is a crappy movie, no matter where it was made; and Prey is suuuuuch a crappy movie.

The acting is terrible, the script is terrible, the special effects are terrible, the characters are terrible…honestly, other than the beautiful scenery (so, congrats to the location scout, I guess?), there’s not a single good thing to say about this train wreck of a movie. It’s just…why?

Why?

I think what makes it all even worse is the misappropriation, and open mockery* of, Australia’s Indigenous cultural heritage. Sure, make some references to the Dreamtime and have some crazy (white) guy rambling about snakes. Good on ya, dickheads.

The movie was put out by a production company that “committed to over a dozen projects to be implemented by 2015,” but which has actually released two movies. Given the quality of this movie, it’s probably for the best that they haven’t been successful in their mission of terror.

The only positive I can think of when it comes to Prey is that it makes the good Australian films seem even better in comparison.
* One of the characters looks at an example of dot painting and says a kid could do a better job